Orthodontics is a specialty of dentistry that is concerned with improvement of the general appearance of a patient's teeth and also the correction of malocclusions, crookedness and other flaws of the teeth. Orthodontic braces are devices that are placed on a patient's teeth by a dental practitioner. In an orthodontic brace, wires interact with brackets to move teeth to a desired position over time. Often, such orthodontic braces are periodically adjusted by the dental practitioner to help align and straighten the teeth. Treatment by the dental practitioner may help in repositioning the teeth to correct flaws and improve the general appearance of the patient.
The current process of custom orthodontic bracket placement and archwire smoothing, in a digital environment, may involve manual operations by a trained technician. In certain environments, a Computer Aided Design/Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) software may provide various interactive manipulation and diagnostic tools, where the interactive tools help the technician in making design decisions, and in meeting the quality standards. This manual process is often labor-intensive and time-consuming in view of the complicated nature of manufacturing and the aesthetic constraints in custom brackets. Furthermore, a significant amount of training and experience is required to master the necessary skills. Additionally, even for skillful technicians, the design outcome varies noticeably from person to person.